Um Bom Dia Para Ser um Cachorro (2023)

A strange premise but it works

9/10 is my rating. This is a 2023/2024 South Korean Fantasy, Romantic comedy. There are 14 regular episodes with one special episode. Each episode has about 70 minute run time. It is based on a webtoon of the same name.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review

Synopsis

Hae na / Mak soon: (Park Gyunyoung) teaches Korean language to high school students. Teaching is a profession that provides good cover for someone living under a family curse that results in her turning into a dog if she kisses anyone. Teachers work day hours which is a must when you turn into a dog from midnight to 6 AM. The only way ti reverse the curse is for then same person kissed to turn into a dog kisses the person in dog form. Ha nae is sweet and attractive and has had semi serious relationships in the past but they end when she refuses to kiss them. Bo gyeom / San-p sin (Lee Hyun Woo) teaches Korean History at the same school and Hae na has a huge crush on him. She has been looking for an opportunity to express her feelings and winds up kissing him when she gets too drunk at a group gathering. Only it was not her crush, it was his friend and their fellow teacher, Jin Seo won / Soo hyun (Cha Eun Woo) she kissed. And it so happens that Seo won is terrified of dogs due to childhood trauma. Which presents a huge issue because, nit inly does he show no romantic interest in her, she has to get him to kiss her when she us a dog, the very thing he is terrified of. To further complicate things not only does Seo won seemingly have no romantic interest in Hae na, he appears to actively dislike her. All of which results in some very comedic situations as Ha nea tries to trick Seo won into kissing her. She gets help from an unlikely source, Min Ji ah (Kim Yi kyung), Seo won’s nephew, who is also one of her students. ji ah accidentally discovers her curse and since he has a crush on her, is very willing to help her break the curse. As if a dog curse is not enough, things are not as they seem and these “strangers” may have a much deeper past than they, at first, are aware. Did she accidentally kiss the right (fated) guy?

Review

If you read the Webtoon, you will find no major surprises as they did not deviate much from the webtoon. I liked the rendition a lot. They somehow made her changing into a dog a little bit less silly than in the webtoon. One thing I was not a fan of though was the number of flashbacks, there were entirely too many flashbacks and I found that they could’ve cut out at least an episode if they just gotten rid of some flashbacks. You can’t ever go wrong watching Cha Eun Woo though, he’s an awesome actor. The romance was heartwarming, believable and well paced. It has a great blend of fantasy, romance, mystery and suspense. I recommend it and would rewatch if someone had it on.

Spoilers

Many say it drags in the last part. I agree. There was a point, having read the Webtoon, I wondered what they had left to tell. I forgot about the memory being wiped. I am not a fan of the amnesia trope. I was glad it was her that lost her memory and not him. She had already gone through so much in getting him kiss her when she was a dog, I would really have been frustrated if she had to start all over again. I was glad she lost her memories and he had to win her back rather than the other way around,

I don’t know what the special episode was about or why they had it. Knowing that would have helped in determining whether to watch it or not. Since we didn’t know what that special episode was, we started watching some of it then determined it was the same thing just strung all together rather than being broken into episodes. Like one huge, extended, flashback. I don’t know if that’s really what it is because I didn’t watch the entire thing we watched maybe a quarter of it then fast forwarded through some more and got less than halfway and determined it was just more of the same. Since we only watched portions of that special episode, I can’t conclusively say it is nothing new but I can say the part we watched wasn’t worth watching for us .

#ParkGyungYoung

#LeeHyunWoo

#ChaEunWoo

#AGoodDayToBeADog

Leia Mais

yeah I watched this for cha eunwoo !

The first few episodes of this series do a great job at setting your expectations high. I thought this series would be cute and wholesome, something that's easy to digest. To some extent, I was not wrong, but it was not what I was hoping for. Ultimately, this series' first few episodes are better than the rest. After the couple gets together, things get boring. It's unfortunate I enjoyed the suspense more than the conclusion.

I felt like the FL lost her entire personality and charm at some point. It played a huge part into my loss of enjoyment for this show, I don't know if I am just horrible at reading human emotions, but she seemed so out of it after a few episodes. Additionally, I wasn't actually happy about the way the FL and ML got together. For the secret to be revealed the way it was just seemed so cliche. I really did not think it fit the personalities of the characters, it seemed so out of place..I just...I did not gain satisfaction from this.

This series has a past that takes place in a historical period. It actually focuses more on two side characters rather than the main pairing, which isn't an issue...except it completely overshadowed the main pairing during the second half of the show (again I am criticizing the second half of the show). As you already have read, I do not like the second half of the show, but these two side characters that completely overshadowed the main pairing ended up giving me the strength to complete the series. The historical aspect feels very distant from the actual plot, especially because it does not have much relevance to the main pairing (despite it being its intent). The blending of the genres wasn’t done properly, it felt so awkward to see the past lives compared to the actual modern setting. I did enjoy it immensely, but I wish there was more foreshadowing for it earlier on so it wouldn’t have been so awkwardly placed in the story. To be honest, I might've actually preferred a series ABOUT the past lives instead of the modern ones.

I enjoyed this series but it truly was wasted potential...cute dogs tho waf waf

Leia Mais

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PUPPY ROMANCE IT'S TOO GOOD

this drama started as very exciting but the last 4 episodes were good but the recaps is actually unnecessary and they showed the scene from past life 2-3 times in different episode and different way which kinda annoyed me but even though they were adult the romance was very puppy love like so adorable no misunderstanding , shy smile & blush part was to die for.. i honestly wanted yul to ended up w someone in his school but sadly they didn't made it like this ,most of time I skip the intro but this intro is kinda my type of things I like.. honestly tvn ruined the story and wasn't able to show the main points but the acting was really good

Leia Mais

Mix of a fantasy and historical fun

This show was really cute, and definitely leaves the viewer with the happy fuzzy feelings while watching. I will say that I really loved Cha Eun Woo in this show vs in some of his other shows, he seemed a lot more expressive and had more chemistry with Park Gyu Young than I have seen with any other actresses. Though that could be due to him just becoming a better actor as he has grown in the industry. It was cute to see all the puppy scenes and Gyu Young is the epitome of adorableness, especially when aiming it at Eun Woo. I'm excited to see more of her work.

There wasn't much I didn't like about this series, it had a lot of fun twists and turns which made me eager to keep watching Especially while learning about the origins of the curse, though the past flashbacks did seem to be excessive in some respects. Now I will say I did get pretty bored with some of the scenes, but the cuteness made it tolerable so to get through those parts and really enjoy the rest of the series.

Leia Mais

wof wof?

I just finished watching the K-drama and let's start with the positives! Well, as you can see, it's a very simple drama aimed at being cute, and in my opinion, it did a good job in that aspect. I can't even count how many times I felt like a lonely single woman watching the romantic scenes 😭😭.
I also laughed a lot at the funny scenes, I found it quite entertaining. Oh, I liked the theater! It was very cute. The actors' performances were also great in my opinion, and finally, the story is quite interesting.
However, let's move on to the negatives now.

1st When the history teacher reunited with his beloved in the present, she was a teenager and in the past (apparently) she was an adult, so I found their reunion strange... I think she should have come back as an adult or not come back, you know? It left a kind of... weird atmosphere.
2nd The CGI of "Cocoa" was bad 😭 it was noticeable when they switched the real dog for CGI.
3rd The part of the story where the math teacher's rival in adolescence appears was unnecessary. He and his henchman made no difference to me when the real villain already existed.
4th The "romance" of the protagonist's uncle with the teacher was... strange and forced. Besides, the uncle had already died when he was in his dog form, why did he come back to life the next day?
5th There were many repeated scenes (the so-called memories blah blah) they were boring .

Well, there were other things I didn't like much, but overall, I had fun moments watching the drama! It was great to see 2 actors (Cha Eun Woo and Park Gyu Young) that I like acting together, as well as meeting a new actor that interested me (Lee Hyun Woo).

Leia Mais

50% good 50% meh

I binged this drama in two days, so i feel like that alone shows how much fun i found it. But alas, it in fact had enough problems that i felt the need to write a review soon after completing it.

Story:
The reason i didn't watch this drama as it aired was for the sole reason that the plot sounded stupid as hell. however, the power of edits made me start it and... it was stupid as hell but omg it was so much fun. the characters were so un-ironically funny and enjoyable to watch that i couldn't stop. The moment that 'sad' background music started playing i started cackling. it was the perfect comedy. at least the first 8-9 episodes were.

the second half of the drama is the 'meh' part. it dragged. This is where the tone of the drama is actually more serious (although not overly), and it get into explaining the lore of the female leads 'predicament'. This honestly was totally unnecessary and unimportant, but if they had to include it , I wish it made sense. This portion also explained in unnecessary detail the reason behind the main villains illogical behaviour, and guess what...the explanation just made his behaviour more illogical.

To put it simply, the villains personality was really well written, he made you trust him then made you scared, but his behaviour and justifications where pretty pathetic imho

key extra: the chemistry between the main couple was so adorable, the way they interacted even before dating was so cute and wholesome. even when they started dating the chemistry was good, and the edit that brought me here showed that (iykyk). that kiss was the most shocking thing i've seen all year.


Acting/Cast:
I enjoyed this drama and therefore enjoyed the acting. Most characters where great at making the drama fun, sweet, and entertaining.

this drama also unleashed a love for the male lead actor Cha Eun Woo that I never realised previously lol, so thank you for that.

the cast was also pretty perfect, everyone really suited their roles.

the main villain, you initially couldn't tell whether you hate him or love him, he was very good at his role. However i have a MASSIVE bone to pick with him. Not once did i feel his actions on the main couple where justified, in any ways i looked at it. there was a moment that suggested their guilt but it was very quickly shot down. like....he did all of that and for what??
With his identity he could have even prevented the need for any of this to even happen so that just irritated me more.
AND on top of that, a simple apology from him would have at least been slightly satisfying but of course not....

Music:
the music in this drama was so good. thats all i have to say lol, and i've definitely added some to my playlists so yea.

rewatch value:
i totally see myself coming back to watch my favourite moments. Although this wasn't a particularly impactful drama, it was fun whilst it lasted.

Leia Mais

Worth a binge watch with light expectations

What made this drama worth watching:
-->A fairly unique plot mechanism where the female lead turns into a dog if she kisses somebody.
--> Cha Eun Woo's acting is getting better -- still a little wooden, but I think he's definitely improving.
--> Enjoyable to watch it all in one go. I am not sure what I would have thought if I had watched it while it aired -- seems like it was on a slow release schedule which would make it drag. As a binge watch, though, it was paced well and kept my interest.
--> Enjoyed the dynamics of the characters at school and at home.
--> There was a healthy dose of humor scattered throughout...thankfully this drama didn't take itself too seriously.
--> The OST was enjoyable and fit the vibe of the drama well.
-->Lots of cute puppies -- always a plus!

What made this drama a little cringey:
--> Watching Cha Eun Woo trying to kiss a dog romantically was.....weird. Not too into that tbh.
--> I don't mind the historical fated lovers trope, but the flashbacks were many in this one. Probably too many.
--> Hae Na's uncle barking was fine at first...but then got pretty cringey. And was resolved without much explanation.
--> Last episode was a little bit of a filler episode. Cute overall, but not really necessary.

My final takeaway --
I'm glad I didn't get too discouraged with some of the negative reviews before diving into this one. Overall I really enjoyed it. I think it requires the viewer to be in the mood for a light and fluffy romcom. If you are looking for serious acting or a romance plot with depth...this is not your drama. This is something for when you need a little bit of the "warm fuzzies" in your life. Don't take it too seriously and enjoy it for what it is...a drama about a girl who turns into a dog.

Leia Mais

Cute but turned Confusing

This was so cute and I loved this until up to about episode 10. Then we went back in time to try to explain the curse. But, they scrambled up the flashbacks in a way that I didn’t know what was happening. You saw the same scene over and over but they were always in a different order. Left me dazed and confused.

I guess it had a happy ending but it wasn’t satisfying. Left a lot open. The biggest thing was they never cleared up the misunderstanding. Not spoken anyways.
I couldn’t hate the villain because he wasn’t a mean person, just heartbroken.

Cha Eun Woo needs different roles. He’s so cute and talented but he always has that same sad face with no expression. I would think he’d get tired of that.

Leia Mais

A Good Watch.

This was a good watch that left me with little to complain about. I feel the story should have gone in another direction, but that is just personal preference.

The Casting was particularly good here, I could not find any real flaws in either the main or support characters. I felt the romance was sweet and satisfying for me. As a dog lover, I enjoyed the premise of the entire show.

If the show did not tackle darker themes this would have become a go-to drama for me when I wanted to watch something light that made me smile. The show explores themes such as bullying, kidnapping, blackmail/threatening, and revenge. The show does these themes well and is not necessarily a bad thing. I just felt the show might have become something I could watch over and over again for years to come if they went in a different direction.

I do believe I will at some point give the show a rewatch. I would give it a very good rating and can see recommending the show to people who enjoy this kind of drama.

Leia Mais

Even with the weird curse it was a fun and intriguing.

When the show first came out, I didn't know it would turn out to be so good. Even though I'm not someone crazy about dogs, this was so sweet. It started out fun, became a bit intriguing, and ended on a good note. I had hoped that the low-key third couple whose fate the show revolved around would also end up together but that didn't happen.

I have watched two drams featuring Cha Eun Woo, one is this one and the other is True Beauty. While he did okay in True Beauty, this character suited him even better. The gentle non-toxic green flag of a guy. Park Gyu Young was so fun to watch, especially when she continued inviting him for soju. Cha Eun Woo tried to imitate it but sadly couldn't match it, but it was fun to watch. The chemistry between the 2 was bomb! The kissing scenes, one of the best I have seen in Kdrama so far.

All characters were great, well-written. I do wonder if Choi Yool was Jin Ah's husband in the past life. Since she said good bye to the mountain spirit maybe they'll get together. I like both Lee Bo Gyum and Choi Yool for her, no doubt they would be good to her, but they have some growing up to do.

It is worth the watch.

Leia Mais